As part of the company’s Industry 4.0 strategy, BMW is developing AI-enhanced robots for material handling and transport to significantly reduce the time needed to build multiple models of custom-configured cars on the same production line.

The glass is thus half full. Yes, grocers started selling groceries online and the results are mixed, but the current environment is surely creating enough critical mass to make it sustainable. The path forward leads towards small scalable micro fulfillment centers to operate in the back of the existing stores. The new grocery store from Amazon in Los Angeles signals that this is exactly what they are doing. A floor space dedicated to shoppers for impulse and more experiential purchases combined with an automated MFC to fulfill commodities and branded products delivered to your car or front door. It took Amazon years and billions of dollars to arrive at this solution. Luckily, in the meantime, a host of startups have spawned to offer the same turnkey solutions at a fraction of the capital and headache investments. I am personally relieved to see that other chains and independents will have access to the same sophisticated technologies and processes as the two giants in the field without incurring the long and expensive lessons.

Robots have been hailed for their effectiveness as contagion-proof workers in hospitals and are being seen as a potential solution for retail’s new COVID-19-related challenges.

Ahold Delhaize's AI and robotics experts are fine-tuning the arm that will be used to process store orders to operate safely around employees and be able to identify and hold a large variety of SKUs. The robotic arm is attached to a rectangular base and can have a hand and other grippers.

Ahold Delhaize is on the lookout for a floor scrubbing robot, and it wants your help. Well, it wants your help if you’re a small startup that already has an existing prototype or MVP of a floor cleaning robot.

The Dutch grocery giant’s AI for Retail (AIRLab) unit kicked off the Cleaning Bot Challenge today in an effort to automate the process of cleaning store floors. Ahold Delhaize described the problem in a post kicking off the challenge:

In supermarkets, floors are cleaned once a day before each store opens. It takes cleaning personnel an average of two hours every morning to sweep the floors for dirt, mop the hard-to-reach corners, and then go through the store with a ride-on floor scrubber. It is certainly both a time-consuming and labor-intensive activity.

Ahold Delhaize’s AI for Retail (AIR) Lab is, thus, looking for a partner that can automate this process by creating an autonomous cleaning robot.

Superdry, a leading fashion brand based out of Cheltenham, England, is the latest retailer to integrate robots and automation into their multi-channel fulfillment centers.

Once an omnichannel experiment for a handful of innovation-focused brands, VR e-commerce is now seeing accelerated demand.

VR e-commerce technology is one of the many digital opportunities, like AI beauty tools and virtual consultations, that brands are seeking to offset losses from physical store closures. VR e-commerce startup Obsess, for example, has seen a 300% increase in inbound inquiries over the last four weeks, compared to the average monthly number from the beginning of 2019. The company recently worked with Dior to launch a virtual version of the luxury brand’s Champs-Élysées store in Paris in February. In China, Shanghai luxury art mall K11 launched a virtual store via a WeChat Mini Program that allowed users to tour the mall and purchase from 46 different brand stores.

The proposed “Project Catfish” industrial development in Coweta County will be a fulfillment center with over 3,000 robots and approximately 800 full-time jobs, according to the developers. Seefried Industrial Properties wants the main building to be 100 feet tall, with 4 ½ stories.

Ahold Delhaize USA today announced Americold as its partner to build the two previously announced fully-automated frozen warehouses. The new facilities are part of the company’s previously announced supply chain transformation plan as it transitions to a fully-integrated, self-distribution model.

The plan will expand cold-storage space by 24 million cubic feet, or 500,000 square feet, by building the two frozen facilities in partnership with Americold. The facilities will be located in Plainville, Conn., which will serve Ahold Delhaize USA’s Northeast brands, and in Lancaster, Pa., which will serve Ahold Delhaize USA’s Mid-Atlantic brands.

Karl Högen knows the question too well: “What does WITRON do in the area of micro fulfillment?” More and more customers from the US, Canada, but also in Europe ask him this question at industry events or they pick up the phone and call him. The competition pushes the topic. “I understand the customers. Everyone is looking for a solution for their e-commerce business, but I do not believe in efficient automation in the store or in a small warehouse for e-commerce goods. Rather, the mothership, the central warehouse, must become more intelligent and play the central role. For the foreseeable future, robots will not be able to pick tomatoes in the store in an economically viable way.”

Designing the world's top robots is a dream of many kids and teenagers. Robots have moved from science fiction into our everyday life. Better yet, robots that we previously thought would never be possible to create are now getting made. These are robotic machines like Boston Dynamics Spot mini or Atlas which can do parkour.

Behind these innovative machines are robotics engineers. They are mechanical and electrical designers who constantly push the limits of robotic invention. Robots aren't just for looking cool though, robotic engineers are vital to the function of modern production lines and factories. Truth is, robotics are all around us and they have an impact on pretty much every product or object we come into contact with each day.

Through the work of robotics engineers, jobs are made safer and more efficient, they are slowly shaping the future of making things. So, let's take a look at what it takes to become a robotics engineer and what to expect if you become one.

But the biggest shift is likely to be in e-commerce. Coca-Cola says it has experienced an upsurge in e-commerce around the globe: with the growth rate of the channel doubling in many countries.

“Consumers are getting necessities delivered to their door, in many cases with contactless delivery. Revenue growth management plays a key role in our current strategy as we shift toward package sizes that are fit-for-purpose online sales and as we reallocate consumer and trade promotions to digital. For grocery e-delivery companies, we've increased our visibility with a focus on multi-packs so consumers can access our beverage within a click's reach of desire.”​

But what is noteworthy is that Coca-Cola does not believe this is a short-term trend: it sees this shaping the way consumers shop in years to come.

“​​We believe the accelerating expansion of the channel is sustainable and we want to continue to be well positioned for long-term growth. We are investing in digital capabilities to strengthen consumer connections and further piloting several different digital-enabled initiatives using fulfillment methods, whether B2B to home or B2B platforms in many countries to capture online demand for at-home consumption in the future. We're seeing good results in these early days and are looking to scale similar partnerships and more customers.”

Wegmans on East Avenue unveiled a new smartphone app that lets customers ring up their groceries as they take merchandise off the store shelves.

"I just like that it's automated," declared customer Michelle Long. "It's simpler, instead of having to wait and go through the lines."

Long, along with other shoppers at Rochester's East Avenue Wegmans, were already embracing the store's new Wegmans SCAN app.

The app takes the business of scanning your groceries away from the register. Connecting to the store's WiFi, the system lets customers use their phone cameras to scan the bar codes on products and add up a virtual shopping cart, with a tally of all the prices and taxes, as shoppers fill their real shopping carts, or bags.

Picture this—you run a large warehouse that serves multiple clients and distributes thousands of packages a day across the United States. One day, a package picker unfortunately tests positive for coronavirus. The next step? A quarantine of your entire warehouse team and the possible reality of your business ceasing operation, resulting in direct losses to you and leaving clients unable to fulfill their orders and taking their business elsewhere.

Unless, that is, you happened to have a robotic picking system in place. That’s because robots can’t get the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), or whatever the next viral epidemic turns out to be.

eMarketer principal analyst Andrew Lipsman discusses how the coronavirus pandemic will affect retail and the balance of power between Amazon and the competition. He then talks about eBay appointing a new CEO, 'Amazon Shipping' being put on hold and Le Tote and Lord & Taylor going online-only.

In just four weeks, the number of Canadian online grocery shoppers jumped 58 per cent according to a survey PayPal commissioned in early April.

The survey shows that 30 per cent of Canadians are shopping online for groceries. This marks a 58 per cent jump from a comparable survey conducted just four weeks earlier, before the coronavirus was declared a global pandemic. Canadian consumers had already embraced online shopping before the pandemic, as 95 per cent reported in early March that they had made an online purchase. Before the health crisis, online grocery shopping was less popular, with only 19 per cent reporting engaging in the activity at the time.

After COVID-19, there’s no going back to the way things were. There won’t be sporting events or concerts with thousands of people sitting in close proximity for a long time. The open office floor plan will likely become a relic of a bygone era. It is, as The New York Times stated recently, the end of the economy as we knew it.

What we’re witnessing is the epitome of a “burning platform,” a metaphor for a crisis that demands drastic change. Much like a wartime atmosphere, we’re in a moment when changes such as universal healthcare and universal basic income suddenly seem possible.

A survey of nearly 800 executives worldwide by Bain & Company estimates the number of companies scaling up automation technologies will double in the next two years. The firm noted: “As companies adapt to new routines and prepare for a pending downturn, automation solutions that might have been years away a few months ago, are suddenly right around the corner.” Examples of manufacturers who plan to speed up automation efforts include LG Electronics, VW, and Hyundai.

Amazon is preparing to launch an ‘Ultra Fast Fresh’ service in the UK, a merging of Amazon Fresh and Prime Now, according to suppliers briefed by the e-commerce giant.

“What we’re finding is people buy everything,” according to McMullen. “We have a lot of new customers coming in our stores. We have a lot of new customers buying Our Brand products. Our expectation and hope is, one, we do a good job for them, and we do a great job for them and relative to the environment that's going on and, to the extent they buy our branded product, they find out how good they are and get addicted to Our Brands and we end up gaining share.